8/22/18
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Social Media De-Platforming
President Trump has stated on Twitter that “Social media is totally discriminating against Republican/Conservative voices” and, “speaking loudly and clearly for the Trump Administration, we won’t let that happen.” He also noted that social media companies “are closing down the opinions of many people on the RIGHT” and it is “dangerous” because they could shut down anyone. Echoing the President’s tweets, recent press reports demonstrate that it is not just Infowars and Alex Jones who are under attack but other “like-minded people and organizations,” such as Breitbart.
What can the Trump Administration do? We propose two immediate avenues for action: 1) Direct the Justice Department to open investigations into whether there are First Amendment and anti-trust law violations by the major social media platforms; 2) Appoint a Presidential Commission made up of free speech experts to make recommendations to the President on potential government action and to advise the social media companies on best practices. 1. Federal Action. Attorney General Sessions can direct Acting Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, John Gore, and Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust, Makan Delrahim, to act. A suit can be based on at least two grounds: First, on a denial of First Amendment rights (
i.e
. civil rights). The Supreme Court recently held that “to foreclose access to social media altogether is to prevent the user from engaging in the legitimate exercise of First Amendment rights.”
Packingham v. North Carolina
(2017). Democrats opposing use of
Packingham
(a case supporting access to social media, even by a convicted child molester) would be elevating the rights of child sex abusers over those of their critics and lawful citizens.
Packingham
applies because social media are acting at the behest of government officials – i.e. Congressional Democrats. For example,
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Senator Mark Warner’s “white paper” entitled “Regulation of Social Media” with proposals that could financially ruin the social media companies was released just days before social media took steps to de-platform right of center news sites.
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Senator Chris Murphy stated in a tweet that “[t]hese companies [Big Tech] must do more than take down one website. The
survival
of our democracy depends on it.”
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Senator Ron Wyden announced on August 22, 2018 in an interview with Kara Swisher of Recode that there should be “consequences” for social media platforms that do not
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See https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2018/08/21/twitter-needs-ban-alex-jones-and-alt-right-lies-and-hate-column/1036668002/ (arguing that Twitter’s CEO should not give “Alex Jones and Breitbart and other like-minded people and organizations a platform on Twitter”).